CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– Boone County Delegate Josh Nelson plans to introduce a bill in the legislature aimed at intensifying the scrutiny of Syrian refugees before they are allowed into West Virginia. His response is not unlike many across the country in the wake of the Paris shootings in which at least one of the attackers managed to sneak into the country posing as a refugee.
“The state would not be allowed to allocate resources or funding without approval of the legislature,” Nelson said on MetroNews Talkline. “Until the people who are elected to represent the citizens of West Virginia are confident a proper vetting process is in place.”
Several governors have issued proclamations which have closed their states to the Syrian refugees coming to the United States fleeing their country’s civil war. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin issued a statement about the matter saying his office has not been contacted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about West Virginia accepting any large scale number of refugees.
“I think the wording of that statement was very careful to say, ‘large scale,'” said Nelson. “Currently we do know there are organizations working to bring a hundred or so into Charleston. That’s a concern.”
Nelson, who has a military background as a Marine Corps veteran and member of the West Virginia Air National Guard, said he sympathizes with those simply trying to flee a war torn region. However, he said the enemy cannot be trusted in light of what happened in Paris and there needed to be a better system to do a thorough background check on each person coming into the United States and West Virginia before he would be comfortable.
“We need to be darn sure the process is adequate. I’m not an expert on the process, but it’s clear one person in Paris was posing as a refugee,” he said. “My heart goes out to those people, but if you had a bag of Skittles and you thought that one of them might be poisonous, but you’re not sure, would you eat them?”